Glasgow crime: Grim tale of brutal 'femme fatale' Bell McMenemy who lured victims to canal

It was October, 1828 and she was the first woman to face the gallows in Glasgow in more than 30 years.

Her crime was to act as a decoy, luring men to the remote towpaths of the city canals, where her husband Thomas Connor, would attack and rob them.

The fact that a woman had helped devise this scheme seemed to cause great consternation to the judge, and to city newspapers who ran sensational stories about the pair and their devious deeds.

The story of Isabella, known as Bell, is one of many unearthed by Glasgow-born writer and journalist Thérèse Stewart for her book, Scottish Canal Crimes, Murder and Mayhem on Scotland’s Canals 1800-1950.

These are grisly tales, of murder and kidnapping, of infanticide and stolen corpses, all linked by the country’s canal network.

Glasgow crimes feature strongly in the book, which is available from Rymour Books, a Perth-based independent publisher. Bell and Thomas were caught after their plans went wrong in May, 1828.

Thérèse , who writes as TA Stewart, explains: “Boatman Alexander McKinnon had arrived in Glasgow from Tiree on a sailing boat with a large batch of eggs to sell. He succeeded in making £10 from the eggs and tucked the profit into his stockings, coins in one leg and notes in the other.

“McKinnon couldn’t speak English but this didn’t dampen his desire for an enjoyable night out in the city. In Maxwell Street he met a slight, 25-year-old Irishwoman who introduced herself as Bell.

“McKinnon found her attractive with her fresh complexion and reddish hair. She had artfully draped about her shoulders a glamorous grey mantle lined with red silk. Bell was a handloom worker who had arrived from County Tyrone in 1821 and it may be that her command of Irish Gaelic enabled the two to understand one another to some extent.”

The pair had a whisky and when Bell suggested going to a house on the south side the islander agreed. They crossed the Broomielaw Bridge over the River Clyde and headed towards the aqueduct at Port Eglinton, the basin of the Glasgow, Paisley and Ardrossan Canal. As they reached an aqueduct bridge, the couple was suddenly joined by two men, and McKinnon felt himself grabbed by the neck cloth, which was twisted until he was on the point of choking. Bell seized a brick and struck MacKinnon several blows to the head, sending him out cold.

By the time McKinnon came round he was lying in a pool of blood and his stocking with its haul of silver and coppers was gone. Two watchmen tracked Bell and Connor to a lodging house, and both they and the two accomplices were arrested.

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Thérèse adds: “The trial made the pair the focus of gossip in the city. News reports laid bare their lives as partners in crime and the calculating modus operandi they had apparently put into operation for several years.

“Connor was regarded as a bad lot whose own mother encouraged him into crime, while McMenemy was portrayed as a ‘femme fatale’ who excelled at her role of putting men at their ease, so that they would drink and lower their guard.

“They were found guilty and sentenced to hang – and the judge branded the young woman the more guilty of the two…..”